Also in today's top stories is Uber's crushing defeat in Europe, a disgraced priest dies, and Eminem gets real about Donald Trump
Happy hump day, chow down on some bite-sized nuggets of news.
Rich get richer - The US Senate has approved a sweeping overhaul of the US tax system. Republicans say the tax cuts for corporations, small businesses and individuals will boost economic growth. Democrats, who all voted against it, say it is designed to benefit the ultra-rich at the expense of the national deficit. For final approval, the legislation must go back to the House on Wednesday for a procedural issue. If it passes, as expected, it will be President Donald Trump's first major legislative triumph.
Disgraced priest dies - Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 over a sex abuse scandal, has died aged 86 in Rome. Cardinal Law was accused of having moved paedophile priests from parishes rather than confront accusations. After leaving Boston he took a post at the Vatican where he worked until 2011.
Another loss - Uber is a transport services company, the European court of justice (ECJ) has ruled, requiring it to accept stricter regulation and licensing within the EU as a taxi operator. The decision in Luxembourg, after a challenge brought by taxi drivers in Barcelona, will apply across the whole of the EU. Uber had denied it was a transport company, claiming it was a digital provider, but the latest ruling in a string of court cases against the Silicon Valley company.
Cowering to the right wing - A French feminist and anti-racism campaigner was forced off a government advisory body, prompting the resignation of the director and scores of members. Journalist Rokhaya Diallo has poken out against what she calls institutional racism in France. Far-right commentators on social media attacked Diallo, and the mainstream right wing party Les Républicains wrote an open letter to the government to complain about Diallo, which the government bowed down to.
A sign of the times - Romans are enraged over the city’s Christmas tree that has been dubbed ‘Spelacchio’, which roughly translates to mangy or baldy. The tree, which died and lost its needles two weeks after being erected in the capital’s Piazza Venezia, has become a symbol of what many see as the city’s eternal decay, The Guardian reported.
No fan here - Eminem has attacked President Trump in a new interview, saying: ‘I get almost flustered thinking about him – that’s how angry he makes me.’ In the interview with Vulture, the rapper said Trump ‘makes my blood boil ... I want our country to be great too, I want it to be the best it can be, but it’s not going to be that with him in charge… He’s got people brainwashed.’